Film Snail

The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil

7.2

The Painted Veil

PG-13·2006·125m

Summary

A British medical doctor fights a cholera outbreak in a small Chinese village, while also being trapped at home in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful wife.

Crew

Director

John Curran

Novel

W. Somerset Maugham

Screenplay

Ron Nyswaner

Reviews

narrator56

narrator56

January 9, 2021

8

This movie seemed vaguely familiar to my wife like we had seen it before, but it all seemed new to me when we recently watched it. We both enjoyed it. I wasn’t concerned when a few reviews remarked that it moved slowly, as we have always appreciated movies that build a quiet story carefully, and mostly this one did that.

My only criticism is that at the outset of the movie, I didn’t quite believe that Walter was in love with Kitty. He said he was, but I wonder if a scene or two showing him falling for her ended up on the cutting room floor. He merely seemed to stalk her around the party and want to marry her before he left for China. Similarly, Kitty falling for Charlie didn’t seem well constructed. It felt like one scene they stared at each other, flirted a bit, and the next scene they are in bed.

But once I suspended that bit of disbelief, the film was great. Gradually Kitty develops as a character, and her marriage begins to be rebuilt from the rubble of her earlier actions.

The final scene, a few years after the action in the bulk of the movie, brings the story full circle in a satisfying manner. All around a fine movie well worth watching patiently.

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$19,400,000.00

Revenue:

$26,910,847.00

Keywords

infidelity
china
based on novel or book
shanghai, china
nun
cholera
foreign aid
doctor
epidemic
convent (nunnery)
loveless marriage
1920s
bacteriologist